Being from Dogafen

Being from Dogafen

Exactly 1 year ago, I would not have believed that I would have these feelings and write about them, after all, I was an experienced mother, I knew kindergartens well. Drop off in the morning - pick up in the evening and then wait for the child to tell you what happened there or send home activities. Even though I didn't like this classical understanding of school, I thought it was inevitable. My aim was at least to follow the development of my second child without any deterioration in his mental health and to prepare him for social life with his peers.

After a long two-month search, I had given up hope and in a last ditch effort, I decided to search the internet and check out all the Bahçelievler kindergartens. After a few searches, I landed on Doğafen Kindergarten's page. The first part of my expectation was that there would be a pedagogue or a psychologist in the school and Doğafen was 1-0 ahead with the opening of the page because the founder was a psychologist. The first thing I was going to do the next day was to go to Doğafen kindergarten. After making an appointment, the next day I got ready with my daughter and went to the school. The first welcome was by Ms. Kadriye. After chatting with my daughter, it was time for us adults. In the meantime, Ms. Kadriye evaluated my daughter and I liked this very much because she objectively reported my daughter's needs and behaviors. I thought it was a great advantage that she was a psychologist.

Since my daughter had never been to school before, we decided on a trial period of 3-4 days. The first day she would stay for 2 hours, the second day for 3 hours and this period would continue in stages because we had to decide whether she could get used to the full day. The first day she stayed at school for 2 hours and I was able to take her out of school crying, she didn't want to come home with me. I thought it was because it was the first day. On the second day she didn't even want to leave the classroom. It was like we were playing musical chairs inside the school. Now we had to try a full day. Every time I went to pick up my daughter from school, we would leave crying because she didn't want to come home. I thought her enthusiasm would pass in the first week. I am a pessimistic and experienced mother... but my daughter proved me wrong, she has been coming to school very happily for a year, but she returns home very unhappy because she doesn't want to come home

In this one year, my daughter has learned many things about life, she even practiced her English, which she learned by playing games with the children of tourists on vacation. ( Thank you Lilliana Teacher ) She has taught us many things too. How we should treat her was explained to us by her by showing the behavior of her teachers as an example. ( Thank you Sevcan Teacher, Gaye Teacher )

She told us which dishes she liked and what she wanted with the food.(Thank you Kitchen Team) She learned to wear her shoes and take care of her belongings.(Thank you Gökçe Teacher). Most importantly, she told us about my happiness and unhappiness with the self-confidence she gained.

Öykü's mom